Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Apr 10, 2016; 7(2): 131-134
Published online Apr 10, 2016. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v7.i2.131
Gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors: Is now time for a new approach?
Rossana Berardi, Mariangela Torniai, Agnese Savini, Silvia Rinaldi, Stefano Cascinu
Rossana Berardi, Mariangela Torniai, Agnese Savini, Silvia Rinaldi, Stefano Cascinu, Department of Medical Oncology, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60100 Ancona, Italy
Author contributions: Berardi R, Torniai M, Savini A, Rinaldi S, Cascinu S contributed to equal in designing research, performing research, contributing new reagents or analytic tools, analyzing data, writing the paper; all authors contributed to the study, read and approved the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Rossana Berardi, MD, Department of Medical Oncology, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Piazza Roma, Via Conca 71, 60100 Ancona, Italy. r.berardi@univpm.it
Telephone: +39-71-5965715 Fax: +39-71-5965053
Received: January 29, 2015
Peer-review started: January 31, 2015
First decision: March 6, 2015
Revised: January 18, 2016
Accepted: January 21, 2016
Article in press: January 22, 2016
Published online: April 10, 2016
Processing time: 434 Days and 3.3 Hours
Abstract

Gastro-entero-pancreatic tumors (GEP-NETs) are rare neoplasms often characterized by an overexpression of somatostatin receptors. Thus, radiolabeled somatostatin analogues have showed an increasing relevance both in diagnosis and treatment, especially in low- and intermediate-differentiated GEP-NETs. These evidences have led to a growing development of new functional imaging techniques as 68Ga-DOTATATE positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) proved useful in the management of these neoplasms. However these tumors have a heterogeneous behavior also modifying their aggressiveness through time. Therefore sometimes 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT appears to be more appropriate to obtain a better assessment of the disease. According to these considerations, the combination of different functional imaging techniques should be considered in the management of GEP-NETs patients allowing clinicians to choose the tailored therapeutic approach among available options.

Keywords: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography; Gastro-entero-pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor; 68Ga-DOTATATE positron emission tomography/computed tomography; Diagnosis; Imaging

Core tip: Our paper stressed the importance of combined 68Ga-DOTATATE and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography in the management of gastro-entero-pancreatic tumors (GEP-NETs). In fact we underlined that the association of these functional imaging techniques showed an important role in redefining the disease after progression, especially in intermediate-grade GEP-NETs, allowing clinicians to choose the tailored therapeutic approach among available options.